Ms Anna Chen 陳雲西女士

Information

Anna Chen was born in London. Her father came to the UK as a seaman in 1927 and went onto establish the first branch of Xinhua news agency in London. He married a British woman and settled in Hackney.

Anna began writing at an early age and at the age of 14 her poetry was first published in the Jonathan Cape anthology Fire Words. She is also a performer and with her one woman play 'Suzy Wrong — Human Cannon' was the first homegrown British Chinese comic actor to write and perform a solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1994. She has gone on to win several awards for her writing, including poetry, blogging online as well as newspaper articles.

Her first collection of poetry, Reaching for my Gnu, was published in paperback in February 2013 by Aaaargh! Press. She has read and performed at the Oxford University Poetry Society and Oxford Radical Forum, Farrago Poetry, Apples and Snakes, the St Ives Arts Festival, the Stoke Newington Literary Festival, the National Maritime Museum. She hosted the British Museum Late event during the Terracotta Warriors exhibition, and curated various events as well as writing and presenting The Steampunk Opium Wars for performance at the National Maritime Museum to mark the opening of their new Traders Gallery in 2012.

She runs The Hothouse Project, an alternative education series of classes and presents her arts series, Madam Miaow's Culture Lounge, for Resonance 104.4FM.

Anna Chen is also active politically, she has organised the press for several campaigns to hit national and international media including: the Chinese Foot and Mouth Disease smear campaign in 2001; the Socialist Alliance in the London (2000) and general elections (2001); the Stop the War Coalition anti-war protests (2001-3) culminating in the million-strong London demonstration February 2003; and helped kick off the RSC Orphan of Zhao protest by the British East Asian Actors group (of which she is a founder member) in 2012. She is a founder member of the Chinese Civil Rights Action Group UK (CCRAG) which later became Min Quan when it affiliated to The Monitoring Group.

She has also been active in exploring the history of the Chinese in Britain through her radio series 'Chinese in Britain' which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014. Most recently she presented at the TedxEastEnd 'Society Beyond Borders' conference 2015.

陳雲西亦熱衷政治，她曾組織及參與多項運動並登上國內外的不同媒體，包括:2001年反對有關口蹄症的失實報導運動、2000年倫敦社會主義同盟、英國大選(2001)、2001至2003年Stop the War Coalition的反戰示威，該運動最後以2003年2月的百萬人遊行告終。在2012年，她協助British East Asian Actors group (她也是創會成員之一)發起皇家莎士比亞劇團"趙氏孤兒"示威。她同時亦是全英維護華人權益行動委員會的創會成員，該組織其後加入 The Monitoring Group，成為"民權"。

陈云西亦热衷政治，她曾组织及参与多项运动并登上国内外的不同媒体，包括:2001年反对有关口蹄症的失实报导运动、2000年伦敦社会主义同盟、英国大选(2001)、2001至2003年Stop the War Coalition的反战示威，该运动最后以2003年2月的百万人游行告终。在2012年，她协助British East Asian Actors group (她也是创会成员之一)发起皇家莎士比亚剧团"赵氏孤儿"示威。她同时亦是全英维护华人权益行动委员会的创会成员，该组织其后加入 The Monitoring Group，成为"民权"。